Architect gave me 3 options for siding: cedar, cypress, Accoya. Here's the actual cost/performance breakdown I found.

Spent 3 weeks researching this for my own house (2,800 sf of siding in Maryland) so figured I'd share the actual numbers: Western Red Cedar (CVG): - Material:- depending on profile - Durability: Class 3 (10-15 yr untreated per EN 350) - Maintenance: Repaint/restain every 3-5 years (-5k per cycle) - Dimensional stability: Good (low density = low movement) - Weakness: Soft (Janka 350), dents easily, sapwood rots fast Cypress (select heartwood): - Material:- - Durability: Class 2 (15-25 yr heartwood only) - Maintenance: Similar to cedar, repaint every 4-5 years - Dimensional stability: Moderate - Weakness: Hard to source all-heartwood consistently. Sapwood content varies wildly by supplier. Accoya: - Material:- - Durability: Class 1 (25+ years, matches tropical hardwood) - Maintenance: Repaint every 8-12 years (finish lasts 2-3x longer due to dimensional stability) - Dimensional stability: Exceptional (75% less swelling than cedar) - Weakness: Only available in radiata pine profile, limited visual grain character. Max lengths around 16ft due to acetylation reactor size. What I actually went with: Sapele. Class 1 like Accoya but natural hardwood grain, Janka 1510, and- from a specialty hardwood supplier in my shiplap profile. Better than cedar on every metric except install ease (it's harder to nail by hand, need pre-drilling or pneumatic). Accoya was my close second but I wanted the natural tropical wood grain. The dark horse nobody mentions: Thermory/Abodo thermally modified. Class 1 durability, zero maintenance if you let it silver-. Can't be painted easily though, the modification makes it less absorptive.